WASHINGTON – Major provisions of the energy bill (search) passed 249-183 by the House on Thursday:
— Open the coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (search) in Alaska to oil drilling.
— Provide $8.1 billion in tax breaks over 10 years, mostly for oil, gas, nuclear, coal and electric utilities.
— Provide product liability protection for makers of MTBE against lawsuits stemming from the gasoline additive contaminating drinking water. Payment of $2 billion in transition costs over eight years to manufacturers as MTBE is phased out.
— Require refiners to use 5 billion gallons of corn-based ethanol by 2012, a 20 percent increase over what the industry is expected to produce this year.
— Expand daylight-saving time by two months, so it would start on the first Sunday in March and end on the last Sunday in November.
— Require mandatory reliability standards for electric power lines, instead of industry self-regulation.
— Give the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission clear authority to override states and local officials in locating liquefied natural gas (LNG) import terminals.
— Provide $2 billion in royalty relief to oil and gas industry over 10 years for research on ways to recover oil and gas from extremely deep waters of the Gulf of Mexico.
— Provide a tax credit of 20 percent up to $2,000 for homeowners who install more efficient windows, doors and improved insulation.
Get all the stories you need-to-know from the most powerful name in news delivered first thing every morning to your inbox